養耕共生農場種植玉米
BY DAVID NICHOLSON | DAILY PRESS (NEWPORT NEWS, VA.)維吉尼亞州的約翰墨瑞斯正在撈起台灣鯛準備出售. 墨瑞斯利用養耕共生的方式來經營農場. (Joe Fudger/Newport News Daily Press/MCT)
利用養魚的水來做肥料並不是一個全新的觀念。但是墨瑞斯利用現代的養耕共生的方法控管農場的經營。
2013年二月起,墨瑞斯把懷斯佔地八英畝的農場改建成香草養耕共生農場。在兩組大溫室中,墨瑞斯利用大水槽養殖台灣鯛.並利用養殖魚類的尿糞製作液肥、部份在水耕床循環,其他部份則排出到戶外的玉米田。
養耕共生讓墨瑞斯多了一筆收入.到了2013年五月,墨瑞斯開始售出第一批台灣鯛,到了年底玉米,萵苣,香草,蔬菜也可以上市了.墨瑞斯說到這是一種可以同時水產養殖與農業耕作的方式.
Lisa T. Perry, director of economic development in Isle of Wight County, says Morris' operation fits in with the county's goals。
"It's another form of agri-business, and it shows exactly how things are changing in that field," she said.
Morris, 56, came to farming late in life. For 17 years he was a firefighter in Portsmouth where he grew up. Later he operated a cabinet-making business. In 1999 he moved to Isle of Wight.
One day he picked up a Farmer's Almanac and read an article about Rebecca Nelson and John Pade, co-owners of Nelson + Pade Inc., a leading aquaponics firm in Wisconsin. Nelson is the author of "Aquaponic Food Production" and editor of Aquaponics Journal, which was first published in 1997.
"In aquaponics, plants and fish grow together in one integrated system — without soil," Nelson wrote in an article for the Agri-View website. "The result is a continuous supply of fresh, organic food that can be grown in minimal space — anywhere — with almost no impact on the environment."
Before he started on his new path, Morris wrestled with the idea, saying, "I was very nervous ... I fought it tooth and nail."
However, he finally sold his cabinet-making shop and purchased a Nelson + Pade system.
"I believe this is my calling," Morris said. "I didn't want to wake up when I was 75 years old and wish I'd done something else.
"It was a big decision," he says, "but you have to keep learning. That's what keeps us young."
Morris estimates he's sunk a total of $175,000 into the business. "If it fails, it fails," he says, but he's optimistic. "I have a business mind and I'm methodical."
He's also passionate about "green" methods of farming that don't require herbicides and pesticides. These products have polluted the Chesapeake Bay and killed off the earthworms and the healthy bacteria in the soil.
Two 21-by-96 foot covered bays hold a maze of steel tanks and pipes. At the far end sit large hydroponic beds waiting to be planted. Morris uses a wood furnace to heat the facility.
Using large grow lights suspended from the ceiling, Morris says, "It's a year-round growing operation ... I'll have crops in January."
Morris purchased his first batch of small tilapia called fingerlings back in August. The warm-water fish live in tanks heated to about 72 degrees. The waste water is filtered through a clarifier that traps the solids. The nutrient-rich water is pumped into the beds.
In his hydroponic beds he's growing basil, lettuce, Swiss chard, yellow pea tomatoes and radicchio. He wants to add kale because "everyone at the farmers' market was asking for it — they juice it."
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